The present invention is related to a lifting device. More specifically, the present invention is related to a device, used in television and motion picture industries, for lifting and re-positioning a track on which camera dolly or crane is located.
Camera dollies and cranes are widely used in television and motion picture industries during a production sequence. It is well known that a camera dolly has a moveable arm for supporting a camera. The camera dolly also contains wheels to enable its operators or grips to quickly transport the camera to a new location in a filming sequence.
Typically it is desirable to eliminate or minimize any camera vibration during a shooting sequence in order to avoid lowering an image quality. To this end, the camera dolly is generally equipped with wide pneumatic tires designed to absorb slight surface imperfections. When the surface, however, is quite bumpy and irregular, a track typically comprising pair of rails is assembled on the ground to allow the camera dolly to roll thereon. The track, as used on a film set, smoothes out many surface imperfections, thereby providing substantially vibration-free shooting conditions for camera operators.
Although the track creates fairly smooth surface for shooting scenes thereby eliminating the vibration and shaking of the camera, it is disadvantageous in another aspect. In particular, the track requires typically laborious re-positioning if the camera has to be in a spot that is not along the track path. Even though tracks can be made curvilinear, it is clear that the movement of the camera dolly is nevertheless limited to the track path.
Moving the track is a very labor-intensive process that requires removing the camera dolly with its camera, re-positioning the track, and then placing the camera dolly back onto the track. Alternatively, the track can be moved without removing the camera dolly, but this requires significant physical effort. In either case, valuable time is expended in this labor and time-consuming process.
A need therefore exists for a device that addresses the above concerns and solves this long-felt need of easily and quickly re-positioning a track used in television and motion picture industries.